Posted by Inma Sánchez

In: Level B2, Idioms, Idiomatic Usage, and Structures, Jerga/ Expresión idiomática, El Pretérito Imperfecto

To express "how long" something had been happening, in Spanish you use:

Hacía + [length of time] + que + verb in El Pretérito Imperfecto

Have a look and listen to these examples:

Hacía unos meses que trabajaba con su padre.He had been working with his dad for a few months.

Hacía varios días que le dolía el estómago.His stomach had been hurting for several days.

Hacía dos semanas que no veía a su novia.He hadn't seen his girlfriend for two weeks.

This structure is also often followed by another sentence expressing an interruption with cuando. For example:

Hacía dos semanas que no la veía cuando ella lo llamó de repente.He hadn't seen her for two weeks when she suddenly called him.

Hacía tres años que trabajaba allí cuando lo despidieron.He had been working there for 3 years when he was fired.

The order of the sentence can be modified as long as you follow this structure:

Verb in El Pretérito Imperfecto + desde hacía + length of time

For example:

Trabajaba en la empresa desde hacía tres años.He had been working in the company for 3 years.

No veía películas del oeste desde hacía años.I hadn't watched a Western for years. [lit: Western films]

Learn more about these related Spanish grammar topics

Examples and resources

Hacía unos meses que trabajaba con su padre.He had been working with his dad for a few months.

Hacía tres años que trabajaba allí cuando lo despidieron.He had been working there for 3 years when he was fired.

Hacía dos semanas que no la veía cuando ella lo llamó de repente.He hadn't seen her for two weeks when she suddenly called him.

Hacía dos semanas que no veía a su novia.He hadn't seen his girlfriend for two weeks.

No veía películas del oeste desde hacía años.I hadn't watched a Western for years. [lit: Western films]

Hacía varios días que le dolía el estómago.His stomach had been hurting for several days.

Trabajaba en la empresa desde hacía tres años.He had been working in the company for 3 years.

Q&A Forum 2 questions, 2 answers

DapoC1Kwiziq community member

Llevar seems more flexible?

It seems that the llevar construction from B1 Spanish is more flexible?

For example if I want to say "He had been working with his dad for a few months", then I could write:

Él llevó trabajando con su papá por unos meses.

Por unos meses él llevó trabajando con su papá.

Él llevó trabajando por unos meses con su papá.

Far more forgiving grammatically than the hacía constructions.

Asked 2 months ago

Like0Answer1

InmaKwiziq team member

Hola Dapo,

Using llevar + gerund is a similar construction to "hace/hacía + time + que..", but bear in mind that when we use the construction with llevar + gerund, not all tenses are acceptable. We tend to use the present or the imperfect (llevo, llevaba). Here is our lesson on this topic if you want to have a look.

Un saludo

Inma

Like02 months ago

Dapo asked:View original

Llevar seems more flexible?

It seems that the llevar construction from B1 Spanish is more flexible?

For example if I want to say "He had been working with his dad for a few months", then I could write:

Él llevó trabajando con su papá por unos meses.

Por unos meses él llevó trabajando con su papá.

Él llevó trabajando por unos meses con su papá.

Far more forgiving grammatically than the hacía constructions.

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EmanuelB2Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

A small tab would be useful

Present + desde hace ...

Hace ... que + present

------

Imperfect + desde hacía ...

Hacía ... que + Imperfect

Asked 5 months agoChui

Like1Answer1

InmaKwiziq team member

Hola Emanuel

This lesson is specific to the use of hacer in the imperfect tense. I think mixing them might create a bit of confusion in my opinion. We do have another specific lesson on Hace + length of time + que...

Here it is.

Gracias por tu sugerencia,

Saludos

Inma

Like25 months ago

Emanuel asked:View original